Financial Disclosure

What am I entitled to receive and required to provide?

What am I entitled to receive and required to provide?

Jessica A. MacDonald
28 February 2017

In family law matters, updated and complete financial information is necessary. Both parties need this information in order to have clear understanding as to their joint and individual financial circumstances and in order to properly negotiate or litigate child support, spousal support or matrimonial property issues. If the parties are unable to agree between them as to the information to be exchanged, then a party may file a Court Application in Provincial Court (known as a “Request for Financial Information”) or in the Court of Queen’s Bench (known as a “Notice to Disclose/Application).

Full financial disclosure generally includes at least the following information:

Income Tax Returns for the last 3 years;

Notices of Assessment and/or Reassessment for the last 3 years;

If an employee, a copy of each of the 3 most recent statements of earnings;

Statement of Income from employment insurance, social assistance, a pension, worker's compensation, disability payments, or dividends;

Statement of total amount of student funding;

If self-employed in an unincorporated business, copies of every cheque issued to you in last 6 weeks from any corporation or business in which you have an interest; financial statements for 3 most recent taxation years; and a statement of all salaries, wages, management fees or other payment or benefits paid for 3 most recent taxation years;

If a partner in a partnership, confirmation of income, draws and capital in partnership for 3 most recent taxation years;

If you have 1% or more interest in a privately held corporation, the financial statements for 3 most recent taxation years, a statement showing a breakdown of all salaries, wages, management fees or other payments or benefits for 3 most recent taxation years, and a record showing shareholder's loan transactions for the past 12 months;

Where child support is an issue, a detailed list of any special or extraordinary expenses claimed;

If a beneficiary under a trust, a copy of the trust settlement agreement and copies of the trust's 3 most recent financial statements;

Copies of all bank account statements for most recent 6 months;

Copies of credit card statements for most recent 6 months;

A monthly budget of expenses;

A sworn itemized list of your income, assets and liabilities;

Copies of most recent statement for all RRSPs, pensions, term deposit certificates, GICs, stock accounts and other investments;

A list of any exemptions claimed.

In some circumstances, less or additional information may be required. For example, if you are already divorced and you are only looking to vary support obligations, only #1-9 in the above list would need to be exchanged.

Depending on your specific circumstances, it may not be clear as to what you are required to provide and what you are entitled to receive with respect to financial information. If that’s the case, a family law lawyer can assist. We are available to assist parties in Calgary and surrounding areas, including Airdrie, Brooks, Carstairs, Chestermere, Cochrane, Okotoks, Olds, Priddis, Red Deer and more.

When parties separate and commence the divorce process or when they decide to settle support or parenting matters, many times they advise their family lawyer that they do not want to end up in court o…

Section 7 of the Alberta Child Support Guidelines and the Federal Child Support Guidelines sets out a number of expenses that are to be shared by the parents of a child. Such expenses are above and be…

The decision of Harder v. The Queen 2016 TCC197 dealt with the Appeal of a Child Support Order in which there was shared parenting. Mr. Harder earned more money than his ex-wife, and the two shared th…